Card for displaying merchandise



A. WIPENMAN 2,903,139

CARD FOR DISPLAYING MERCHANDISE Filed Sept. 6, 1957 Sept. 8, 1959 IN VEN TOR. /4/P mm WpEA/MAA/ United States Patent F 2,9Q3,139 V CARD FOR DISPLAYING MERCHANDISE Arthur W. Penman, Mendham, N.J., asslgnor to Wilson 2 Plastic Container Corp., Brooklyn, N.Y., a corporation of New York Application September '6, 1957, Serial No. 682,345

,6 c1; z t-um) were attached by wires; cords, adhesive tape or tabs which :1

were broken or dislodged to release the articles, whereby the card could not be used again after the articles were dispensed. The assembling operation was costly and time consuming, and'the removal of the articles often required the use of a tool. 'Also, after several articles were removed from the card, the torn or dislodged portions of the card rendered the same unsightly and defeated its purposelof attractively'displaying the merchandise.

Accordingly, an' objectof' the' present invention is to provide a display card which is not subject to the foregoing disadvantages and objections.

Another object is to provide such a display card which facilitates attachment and removal of the articles.

Another object is to provide such a display card which is so formed that no other means are required to attach the articles thereto and that the card need not be impaired to remove the articles.

Another object is to provide such a display card which can be used over and over again by the Storekeeper, simply by replacing the articles removed from the card with articles from stock.

Another object is to provide such a display card which is neat and attractive in appearance at all times and can be kept clean.

Another object is to provide such a display card which. is particularly adapted for mounting a large number of relatively small articles in an orderly manner.

A further object is to provide such a display card which can withstand rough handling without breakage or impairment thereof.

A still further object is to provide such a card which can be fabricated in a simple and economical manner.

Other and further objects will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawing, forming a part of the specification, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a display card in accordance with the present invention having twoarticles mounted thereon.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 2-2 on Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 on Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 on Fig. 2.

2,903,139 Patented Sept. 8, 1959 Referring now to the drawing in detail, there is shown a card for displaying articles A which card generally com prises a sheet 10 formed with a row of parallel clip-like recesses 11 for receiving and retaining the articles. Any desired number of such recesses may be provided and it is contemplated that in certain cases a small card could be provided with a single recess and that in other cases a large card could be provided with a great number of recesses. Also, the card could be provided with more than one row of recesses or with two or more single recesses arranged one above the other in line or out of line.

For purposes of illustration and example a card is shown herein which is adapted to display small electrical resistors which have a generally cylindrical body and have a centrally located terminal wire extending outwardly therefrom at each end thereof.

In order to receive and retain such articles, the recesses are generally cylindrical and re-entrant and have an opening 12 at the top upper surface of the sheet 10. As shown herein, the recesses 11 are formed by displacing portions of the sheet at both side surfaces thereof, that is, at the top and bottom in a manner to provide recesses having a generally cylindrical'side wall 13 and semi-circular end walls 14. The side wall 13 at both sides of the recess extends above the sheet and the end walls and the remainder of the side wall 13 extend below the sheet. The upper ends of adjacent side walls 13 are connected by a fiat, narrow web portion 15 of the sheet, and the outer upper ends of the end recesses are joined by a similar portion to an upwardly extending wall portion 16 on the sheet.

Preferably, the opening of each recess extends for about across the top thereof, so that the side wall is in engagement with the article for about 225 and thereby is effective to retain the same. The relative size or extent of the opening may be varied considerably depending on the size of the article or the degree of retaimnent desired but in all cases the side wall is in engagement with the article for more than 180.

The end walls prevent longitudinal movement of the article and enable the terminal Wires 17 to lie on the upper surface of the sheet 10 without disturbing the shape thereof (Fig. 3). Preferably, the end walls are flared slightly to facilitate the formation thereof and to guide the ends of the article into the recess.

In accordance with the present invention, the sheet 10 is formed of material which has a slight amount of resilience, for the purpose described hereinafter, thereby lending itself to the formation of the recesses. Such material may be sheet metal, resin impregnated cardboard or plastic resins, particularly those of the polyethylene or vinyl type. The latter class of materials is preferred because such plastic resins are readily molded into a sheet having the recesses therein, are relatively inexpensive, are available in dilferent colors, are washable, and indieia can be molded thereon to identify the articles (Fig. 1).

By reason of the resilient nature of the sheet, the articles are readily forced into the recesses to be gripped therein. This is facilitated by the web 15 at the sides of the recesses which web enables the side wall 13 to expand and enlarge the opening of the recess for reception of the article. After insertion of the article the side wall 13 springs back to grip the same (Fig. 2).

In order to remove an article from its recess, the sheet is bowed upwardly with the crest of the bow near or at the longitudinal axis of the recess from which the article is to be removed. This causes the side wall 13 of that recess to be expanded and thereby enlarge its opening, whereby the grip on the article is released to enable the same to be removed with little effort.

The storekeeper can replace the removed articles at his leisure simply by taking articles from his reserve stock and inserting the same into the empty recesses. Also,

should the card become dirty from dust and be soiled by handling'the same with-dirty -hands,-all of the articles can be removed to wash the card and can be thereafter replaced without damage or impairment of the card.

While the recesses are'shown herein as having .a generally cylindrical side wall, it iscontemplated-thatthey -could'have other re-entrant shapes which areprovi'ded with an opening of lesser widththan an internalv dimension between the sides of the recess walls below the opening.

*From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the present invention provides a practical, economical, dura- -ble and attractive card for displaying articles of'merchandise.

As various changes may be made in the .form, construction, and arrangement'of the parts herein, without departing-from the spirit and scope ofthe inventionand without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood thatall matters are to be interpreted as illustrative and not in any limiting sense.

What is claimedis:

.1. A card for displaying merchandise comprising a substantially flat sheet of resiliently bendable material "formed with a pair of arcuate sides extending aboveand below the surface of said sheet to provide a rerentrant 3. A card according to claim 2, wherein said recesses are parallel and are arrangedina row.

4. A card for displaying merchandise comprising a sheet of resilient material formed with a recess by displacing portions thereof at both top and bottom surfaces, said recess having a generally cylindrical side wall extending above and below thesurface of said sheet and formed with an opening for about at the top thereof and having semi-circular end walls, whereby said .recess is adapted to receive ,and retain a generally cylindrical article, and the article is adapted to be removed from the recess by bending said sheet to bow -thesa.me upwardly to enlarge said opening.

5. A. card according: to claim 4, wherein saidend walls and about of said side wall are disposed below said sheet and the remainder of said side wall is disposed above said sheet.

6. A card according to claim 5, wherein a row of a plurality of parallelirecesses is-.formed in said sheet and the upper ends of adjacentside walls are connected by a flat, narrow-portion-of said sheetdisplaced upwardly from its. upper side surface.

Re erence -Cite in thefi o t patent "UNITED STATES PATENTS v838,031 .Kirkpatrick Dec. 11, 1906 1,082,078 Gib son Dec. 23, 1913 1,245,805 Schneider Nov. 7, 1917 2,280,003 Pearson Apr. 14, 1942 2,428,498 McWi lli a 1ns Oct. 7, 1947 2,598,492 Boes May 27, 1952 2,792, 1 i g e -.--r--ry 1957 2,813,625 Seyfor-th Nov. 19, 1957 

